“A writing course needs a subject, to be centered on some substantive issue or question.” Joseph Harris writes these words in his introduction to Rewriting and they relate perfectly to a class that is based on a substantive issue- civic literacy. How does Harris’ definition of reading and writing relate to a class based on civic literacy?
Reading is more than taking words off pages, it is figuring out why the author wrote that text, figuring out what they were trying to accomplish in that writing. Harris mentions marking key quotes and taking the time to fully read into the authors perspective to truly understand. Reading this way can create readers that attempt to understand an authors words in a way that affects them and applies to their life; ultimately helping to inform them about the ideas around them.
Harris sees writing as a very complex action. He explains that writing in a college course requires “re-presenting the work of others in ways that are both fair to them and useful to your own aims in writing.” (Harris 5) Writing must be more than just replicating the authors ideas, but actually adding something of your own. Writing should show your perspective and morals; a novel way of understanding and explaining a reading.
Harris mentions many aspects in Rewriting that mirror Sullivan’s view of blogging as writing. Harris mentions writing as a social process (using certain tools in a well-defined context to achieve a certain end or make a particular product” Harris 3), and I believe Sullivan would agree with this statement. Both writing for a college courses and writing on a blog are social processes, hopefully achieving a more informed reader in the end. The way Rewriting is organized, with “Intertext” boxes to share other works Harris used when writing, closely relates to the blogging world’s use of links. Intertext boxes and links both “illustrate how academic writers reuse and respond to other texts.” (Harris 8) Writing, on paper or for a blog, lead our generation closer to understanding civic literacy.
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I thought your closing consideration of the social aspects of writing and blogging was the strongest part of this response. The connection between the text boxes in Harris's book and the quotes and links on Sullivan's blog was a good example.
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